


Do High School Korean Boys Dream of Electric Clocks?

by Kei_Eich_Elen



Category: B.A.P
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dangan Ronpa Fusion, Bittersweet, Dramatic, Murder, Murder Mystery, Non-Sexual Intimacy, kind of existential at times I guess??, zelo passes out a lot for some reason
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-02-13 18:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2160438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kei_Eich_Elen/pseuds/Kei_Eich_Elen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bap and Matoki in the Super Dangan Ronpa 2 universe with a lot of twists. Basically murder happens in a backdrop of bonding high schoolers and confusing dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some parts of the plot follow SDR2's, and a lot of parts don't. It'll be better if you know the plot of SDR2 and could get the references but it's also just fine if you read it without knowing. Also, I wasn't sure where to put this in terms of relationships and romance and stuff, because I feel like a lot of it is borderline/unclear. Well there's no smut anyway just so you know:)  
> I hope you like reading it as much as I liked writing it^^

_There’s a door…_

_Zelo walks through the dark, suspended space towards the silhouette. He pushes the door open and for a moment everything is washed out with a blinding light._

Huh?

He’s in a classroom with 15 other kids scattered around. There are rows of wooden desks and a faint glow comes in through the windows in the back.

“Who are you?” A girl said.

“Um…”

“Are you also one of our classmates?” A boy with a slightly baby-ish face said, looking up from his conversation with a good-looking kid with dirty blonde hair.

Right. These were his classmates. He’d walked into the Academy building, and then… Wait, what?

“Hello?” The good-looking kid was in front of him, waving a hand in his face. “Earth to tall dude.”

“Oh.” Zelo regained his composure. “Hi, my name is Choi Junhong. But you can call me Zelo.”

The good-looking kid chuckled.

“Nice to meet you Zelo. My name is Jung Daehyun.”

Daehyun… He should stop getting distracted and start getting to know his classmates if he wanted to make a good impression.

“Hey new kid.”

He turned to see a boy with a cat-like face and porcelain-white skin perched on the teacher’s desk.

“I’m Kim Himchan. You should remember my name.” He winked.

Zelo shuddered. What was that wink implying?

The one with the baby-ish face laughed and came up to them. He stuck out a hand.

“Don’t let him scare you. My name is Yoo Youngjae. If you ever need anything feel free to ask me.”

“Thanks,” Zelo smiled. He decided that Youngjae had a very comforting presence. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. With the help of Daehyun and Youngjae, he managed to introduce himself to each of the girls- Zelo had always been a lot more comfortable around guys.

“Hey Jongup!” Daehyun threw an arm around Zelo’s shoulders and waved at a kid awkwardly playing with some erasers by himself. “Come over here.”

Jongup obliged and walked over until he stood before Zelo, about a head shorter than him.

“Introduce yourself Junhong.”

“Hi, my name is Choi Junhong,” Zelo said, bowing a little. “But you can call me Zelo if you want.”

“Hi, my name is Moon Jongup,” He said, smiling shyly.

Zelo noticed Jongup glance at Daehyun for reassurance, and it felt nice that there was at least one other person who was nervous about this.

“Um, what were you doing over there?” Zelo asked.

“...”

He stared at Jongup, waiting for a response. But then he realized that the boy’s eyes had sort of dulled and spaced out.

“Hello?”

“Oh.” Jongup blinked and looked like his head was yanked back from the clouds. “Did you say something?”

“Hey!” Youngjae laughed. “What’s with you?”

Zelo laughed too. Eventually, Youngjae was sucked into Jongup’s game of eraser domino and Zelo was led away by Daehyun.

“Did you talk to Bang Yongguk yet?” He asked him.

Zelo looked around at the room of students, who were now starting to mingle more and more comfortably. There was only one person he hadn’t talked to yet- a boy with black hair sitting alone in the corner. He didn’t really look like he wanted to be bothered. They made their way over anyway.

“Yongguk?” Daehyun said. The other boy continued to glare at the wall. “Someone else new came. Um, you should say hi.”

When he didn’t respond, Daehyun shoved Zelo forward, and he stumbled, barely stopping in time. Godammit Daehyun.

“H-Hello,” Zelo stuttered. “I’m Choi Junhong. You- Some people call me Zelo.”

“Yongguk.” The cave-deep rasp of Yongguk’s voice surprised him. “That’s my name. Bang Yongguk.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Yongguk glared at the wall and Zelo shifted his feet.

“Alright,” Daehyun said. “See you later Yongguk.”

He took Zelo by the sleeve and led him away.

“He’ll loosen up,” Daehyun told him.

Zelo nodded.

He hung out with Daehyun, Youngjae, and Jongup for a bit. Daehyun and Youngjae were nice to Jongup and him. They laughed a lot and Zelo really had fun. Of course, that _had_ to be when it all started- when this unfathomable event that would change his life forever, that nothing could’ve prepared him for, began.

“Are you all having fun?”

The voice was not human. It was a warbling bass, like those electronically disguised warped voices of kidnappers when they demanded ransoms.

Everyone was shocked and looked around for the source of the voice.

“I’m over here!”

Himchan yelled and fell off the teacher’s desk.

And standing on the desk was a black, toy bunny with an oxygen mask.

“What the hell?” Himchan said.

Zelo suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He had a really bad feeling. The sight of the bunny was like a horrible nostalgia seeping through his veins. It felt like doom- like death.

“Your teacher, the wonderful Matoki, has arrived!” There was a tinge of cheeriness to the warbled voice. It crossed its arms over its chest like a cartoon character.

A girl screamed, and when the bunny hopped across to another desk, about half the kids started freaking out and the screaming was no longer gender exclusive. Zelo’s mind was a mess, and he didn’t even realize he was running for the door when someone grabbed his wrist. He twisted around and came face-to-face with Jongup. His expression was uncharacteristically annoyed.

“Don’t run away!” He said in a matter-of-fact way. Then he shouted- his usually soft voice straining slightly under the unexpected volume, “Get a grip you guys!”

Jongup’s command seemed to magically settle everyone down. But despite being calm, Zelo still felt really weird. It was that bunny! He felt sick and his head hurt…

The bunny appeared on the desk right next to him.

“Oh Zelo! You really _are_ as tall as they say!”

The blackness of its huge, oval eyes filled him… What was happening?... Death… Spinning…

* * *

 

 “Hey… Can you hear me?”

Sunlight penetrated his closed eyelids hotly. Zelo shut them tighter. He could hear something- was that ocean waves? Seagulls?

“Hey, are you alright?” The familiar, soft voice said again. It sounded close, like they were hovering right above him. “You sure look exhausted. I am too, you know. We all are. I mean, with all the crazy stuff that happened… Um, are you listening?”

Zelo cracked his eyes open.

“Oh,” Jongup smiled down at him, the sun blinding in the blue sky. “You’re awake.”

He pushed himself up against the sand and looked around. They were on a beach. A perfect beach, straight out of a magazine- beautiful sand, beautiful waves, beautiful sun, beautiful palm trees. They were completely alone.

Zelo’s head spun.

“What did…” He said. “How- what _happened_? Where-”

“Oh it’s ok!” Jongup said, patting his forearm. “Don’t worry! You just fell asleep for a bit. See? You drooled.”

“Huh?” Zelo felt the side of his mouth, which had some dry spit and sand stuck to it. “Oh yeah, I did.”

After a while, most of the kids came back to the beach and they filled Zelo in on what happened after he blacked out. Apparently, Matoki, the bunny, had waved his arm and the walls of the classroom peeled open like an orange to reveal that they were on this beach. Then, he told them to explore this island that they would be staying on for a field trip, and disappeared. For some reason, Zelo was able to accept this relatively easily and was not totally shell-shocked.

They shared their finds from the exploration: a path from the beach led to a small cluster of stilt houses that were their individual living spaces, beyond that was a square with a pool and a “lobby” where they could eat upstairs. Daehyun and Youngjae investigated several bridges that seemed to lead to other smaller islands, but were each being guarded by some 50-feet-tall mechas that began to behave aggressively if you got too close.

“That’s right! You’re not allowed to go to the other islands yet.”

Himchan screamed and clambered away as the Matoki popped up in the middle of their circle.

“What _are_ you?” Yongguk nearly whispered, his eyebrows knit together and his face in some deep, serious bewilderment. His rare display of emotion (or opinion or any reaction in general) went basically unnoticed because of Matoki.

“I can’t get over this thing!” Youngjae screamed to no one in particular.

“Thing?!” Matoki said, scandalized. “I’m insulted Youngjae! I am a living creature just like you.”

Jongup laughed. _Jongup laughed, lightheartedly,_ and said,

“We know, Matoki. But didn’t you have some information to give us?”

It wasn’t right at moments like these- when Jongup suddenly seemed too polite or too leader-like. It was like he turned into another person for a few seconds, and it always unnerved Zelo. As if reading his thoughts, the Matoki shivered and said,

“Wow, that was scary coming from the cute and clueless Jongup. Just what is hidden inside of you?”

“A little man.” Jongup pointed to the back of his neck. “He sits in here and controls me like this.”

He moved his arms up and down stiffly, smiling at his joke, while the others gaped. How could Jongup be joking with the Matoki right now?

Daehyun patted Jongup’s back and looked at the ground, indicating that he should probably stop. There were some more useless exchanges between Matoki and the girls, which Zelo stayed uninvolved with. Matoki was about to tell them something big, he could tell, and he couldn't get in the mood to fool around.

"Junhong?" He jumped when Himchan addressed him. No one else noticed them in the back. "Are you ok?"

Zelo nodded, and Himchan didn't even spare him a second glance.

"So then what _is_ the point of this?" Daehyun asked Matoki.

 _No,_ Zelo thought. _No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no._

"The point?" Matoki's empty black eyes flashed. "Gather 'round, and I'll tell you the point. The point of this, is for murder! It's a school life of mutual killing! You guys will kill each other! Isn't that exciting?"

"What?" Youngjae said.

"You heard me!" The Matoki declared. "If you want to get off this island, you need to kill one of your classmates. After someone is killed, there will be a trial where everyone will vote on who they think the murderer is. If the votes are wrong, you get off the island! If you get found out, you will be gloriously executed in an entertaining way that I've prepared just for you! Then-"

"Woah woah woah!" Daehyun broke in. "Stop! You're seriously freaking me out now-"

"What the hell is happening?" Himchan muttered.

Zelo looked to his right and his eyes met Jongup's. The human contact barely grounded him. They held it for a moment, looking at each other’s eyes, and then looked away.

"There's no way we're going to kill each other!" Youngjae growled.

"Yeah," Daehyun agreed, grabbing the back of Youngjae's shirt. "We're not going to hurt each other-"

"But you will. No matter what you say now, the future is set for you." Matoki smiled knowingly at them, and that feeling of dread exploded in Zelo's chest. "Some of you will murder, some of you will be murdered, many of you will die, and only a few will survive. I know everything that will happen."

"Shut up," Yongguk said.

"Well, this must be hard for you guys to grasp right away, so I'll cut you some slack and be extra patient for the first murder. I'll even give you a motive to get things rolling!"

"I'm outta here!" A girl said, and stalked off towards the path.

"Hey!" Matoki said. "Come back here!"

"No!"

"I'm giving you one last warning..."

The girl didn't stop. She walked a couple more feet, before a tree-sized mecha landed from the air and smashed her with it's fist. Blood splattered, and time stopped- the scenery became heat waves.

"What?"

"Holy-"

No one could move or speak.

"That's too bad. For someone to go so soon and in such a pathetic way! Well no one will remember her now. Anyway, let that be a lesson to you all! I'm being very serious right now! You _have_ to betray each other if you want to get out of here. If you don't kill anyone, I'll keep you here forever."

"No," Daehyun finally managed. “This is a really bad joke.”

“It seems,” A girl next to him said. “That you are unable to adapt to this new situation. Did you see what happened to Claire just now? We have no choice but to play by Matoki’s rules, and there’s no doubt your denial will get you killed very quickly. So I suggest you get your act together and stop clinging to Youngjae like that. Trust is your enemy now, Daehyun.”

How on earth could she be saying that? Wasn’t she in the exact same situation as the rest of them?

After the girl’s words, the group fell into silence. The ocean’s waves sounded lonely and dangerous, lapping at them from behind. The sun had sunk lower in the sky, but it still beamed yellow and too brightly. Yongguk’s cave-like voice broke the silence.

“I don’t know who you are,” He said. He was the only one at that point with the courage to bring attention to himself. “I don’t really know what’s going on either, and I’ll play your games for now. But I swear you won’t win in the end.”

Matoki simply laughed and disappeared, leaving them on the beach in their circle.

* * *

 

That night in his one-room stilt house, Zelo lay awake in bed. There was no way they were going to kill each other. Really, they _couldn’t._ They were just a bunch of teenagers. But there was no way out of this. It was ridiculous enough that he was trapped in this island who-knows-where.

But really. It was _impossible_ for any of them to murder another of them. Jongup… Youngjae… Daehyun… Even Himchan and Yongguk. All of the girls he’d met.

Impossible. Utterly impossible.

That’s what they all thought. That was, until the first murder.

 

And then the second.

 

And the third.

 

The fourth.

 

Fifth. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Choi! Jun! Hong!” Daehyun belted. “Choi! Jun! Hong! Choi! Jun! Hong!”

The shack trembled as the six boys, minus Zelo, brought up the chant to a roar. Himchan pounded dramatically on the top of Zelo’s head like it was a drum, and it honestly kind of hurt.

It had been Himchan’s idea to throw a party- just for the hell of it- down at the shack near the beach. It had been Youngjae’s idea to play spin the bottle- just for the hell of it- even though there were only guys still alive. It was far past midnight by now, and the bottle hadn’t landed on Zelo even once.

“Choi! Jun! Hong!”

Yongguk spun the bottle and whooped, that gummy grin wide on his face as the rest of the boys cheered. Matoki had refused to provide them with any alcoholic substances, so Zelo guessed they were all just drunk on sugar. Or it was a crazy high of pure denial, or like an existential high, or an enjoying-the-moment high, since a deep-set uneasiness was already manifested between them and the fact that they were alive and the worst could happen anytime and had happened 5 times already-

No! He was partying right now for god’s sake, and the 5 older boys he now considered close hyungs were shouting and slamming the floor over a spinning bottle and kissing and they were having fun, and the bottle was starting to slow down…

It landed on Daehyun for the 12th time that night, and then on Jongup for the 4th time. They leaned over without hesitation (they'd been playing for a long time now), and Jongup laughed through the whole kiss while Youngjae shouted, "Hey kiss him properly!" repeatedly.

Himchan and Yongguk kissed after them- or at least until Himchan's tongue flicked out and Yongguk pulled away squeaking. The bottle then proceeded to land on Himchan again. And then Yongguk again.

Youngjae and Jongup kissed and when they finished, Jongup fell on the floor, explaining that Youngjae had "sucked his brains out." The bottle landed on Daehyun again. And then when it landed halfway between Himchan and Jongup, Youngjae cheered "All at once! All at once!" Zelo slapped him on the back, saying that wasn't even possible. His hyungs got right to work on proving him wrong. Zelo grimaced while Yongguk just died of laughter and Youngjae squealed and jumped up and down. It seemed to Zelo that Youngjae was enjoying all this a bit too much.

* * *

 

Zelo woke up in his bed. He hadn’t slept so deeply since he got trapped on this island. Sunlight lit up the room naturally, and the clock read 1:12.

Wait, how did he get here? The last thing he remembered was playing spin the bottle with the others in the shack, but he didn’t ever remember leaving. Zelo decided to go to the lobby for lunch, and also to ask anyone if they knew what had happened.

Before he could leave his house, Matoki popped up in front of the door.

“Good morning Zelo!”

“It’s not morning anymore,” Zelo said, zipping up his hoodie.

“Fine, fine. Good afternoon then,” It said. “I didn’t know you were such a precise person. Anyway, all the others have woken up already. They’re all waiting for you at the lobby right now, so hurry it up!”

“Why are you telling me?”

“Because I’ve been waiting for you too! I have a major announcement to make, but I needed to wait until everyone woke up.”

A major announcement… So far, a major announcement had always led to a new mini-island being unlocked, which led to another motive being presented, which led to another of them being murdered, which led to another Mafia Game, which led to a murderer being revealed among them, which led to the execution of that murderer. Zelo’s heart sank. This is what the 6 of them had stayed up partying to forget last night- it was their worst fear, that they knew would come true soon.

Matoki disappeared, and Zelo began to make his way towards the lobby.

* * *

 

“You guys unlocked a new island!” Matoki said. “Good for you! Let me show it to you right away!”

This was unusual. Matoki usually left them to explore newly unlocked islands on their own.

“Can’t we go on our own?” Himchan asked.

“No!” Matoki said. “I insist that I accompany you! Come on then, let’s get moving!”

“I’m not done eating!” Daehyun protested.

Matoki didn’t let Daehyun bring his bun with him. They walked as a group, with Matoki chattering the whole time, and it really brought the mood down. It was a death sentence walk, and they all knew it. Who would die this time? Who would the murderer be this time? Zelo couldn’t even begin to speculate.

The island was a huge amusement park. It was a rainbow vomit of huge, unreal roller coasters and other rides, covered in triangle flags, confetti, and cheesy carnival music.

“Wowwww!” Jongup exclaimed, grinning like a little kid.

Zelo couldn’t help smiling too. This place had fun painted all over it! He even saw a carousel to the left.

“There’s a carousel!” He told Jongup, pointing.

“Wow, I’ve never been on a horse before!”

“These rides aren’t like, killing machines or anything right?” Yongguk said suspiciously, kicking a giant teacup.

“Of course not!” Matoki said. “That would just be mean. But let’s get going guys, no more dilly-dallying. I need to show you the main event!”

They trailed behind the bunny, their eyes constantly being attracted to new things around them.

“This song is really repetitive,” Jongup noted randomly at one point.

Yongguk agreed and Zelo actually found their small talk mildly comforting. They’d gotten really good at coping with the constantly dark life here.

“What happened last night?” Zelo asked Youngjae.

“What do you mean?” He said as Daehyun put an arm around his waist from his other side. “Well there was a lot of kissing.”

“No not that! I mean, how did I wake up in my house?”

Youngjae’s eyes widened.

“Oh yeah!” He said. “I forgot about that! I don’t know either, I just woke up in my house.”

“Me too!” Daehyun said.

“It was me and Jongup,” Yongguk called back. “You all crashed so we carried you back to your houses.”

“Oh, that explains a lot,” Himchan said.

“Really?” Zelo said. “Wow, thank you.”

“I can’t believe you did that for us,” Youngjae added absentmindedly.

“How did you carry Youngjae?” Daehyun wondered. “It took 3 people to carry him last time.”

Youngjae slapped his shoulder.

* * *

 

They arrived at a castle-shaped building. Matoki led them inside, and the interior was literally completely pink. It was a minty, light shade of slightly neon pink, and there was nothing that wasn’t pink. The hallways were bare and geometric, and the rooms were very spacious. Everywhere they looked was space and light pink. It was dizzying and made them all sick.

Matoki gathered them in front of a pink elevator.

“This is the Strawberry House!” He said. “Isn’t it pretty? So clean and colorful. Anyway! You can all explore more later. You can use this elevator to go upstairs, where your rooms are.”

“Rooms!?” They all said.

“Let me finish! Yes, that’s right, you’ll all be staying in here until another murder occurs. I’m not letting any of you get out of Strawberry House until somebody commits murder! That’s your motive for this round.”

“That’s so… primitive!” Yongguk said.

“But that’s not all,” Matoki continued. “It’ll be no fun watching all of you mope around forever. I don’t have time for that. So, your additional motive for this round is- food! There is nothing to eat or drink anywhere in Strawberry House, and I’m not going to give you any food or water! You won't be able to get any food unless someone is murdered and I let you out. Once someone is murdered, I’ll give you each a pumpkin bread and a carton of milk so you have energy before the Mafia Game. Any questions?”

They were floored. This was unlike any of the previous motives, which were all psychological and subtle. This one was too practical. It reminded them how much power Matoki really had over them. He could just trap them in a building and starve them like mice whenever he wanted to.

“But what if we just die of starvation?!” Zelo said, bewildered.

“Then just kill someone else before you can die!” Matoki said, laughing. “Your situation is really very simple right now. It’s like how animals live in the wild! You can’t eat unless you kill. If you don’t have any more silly questions I’ll just get going. You can talk out the room arrangements. Good luck!”

Matoki disappeared. Zelo looked around and realized with a pang that all of them were terrified. It was the first time they had felt so cornered, even on this island. Zelo wasn’t the type to speak out about things, but seeing all of his strong hyungs rendered helpless broke his heart.

“Guys,” Zelo said. “It’s ok. We can do this! There has to be another way out. We’ve been through so much together. You’re all really brave and strong and- and we take care of each other. So we can hold out against some food and water and get through this! Right?”

He blinked, unsure if his words had any effect. Jongup put an arm around him.

“What Junhong is trying to say, is that we still have hope.” There was that alternate-personality thing again, and it was slightly creepy. But then he smiled- and when Jongup smiled, he looked so pure and honest that nothing else in the world mattered, existential thoughts about your best friend’s personality included. “No matter what, let’s hope and be happy! We love each other right? None of us would’ve met each other if it weren’t for this, and we wouldn’t be this close and love each other so much. We’re living a miracle right now! We’ve been through so much and our hope is strong. So I want to keep fighting together and helping each other….”

Youngjae grinned and tackled them, and Zelo was so relieved that tears welled up in his eyes. The others piled in too and Zelo found himself at the bottom of a crying/laughing doggy pile of teenage boys on the light pink floor.

* * *

 

The elevator hadn’t been what they imagined at all. The doors opened to a massive, circular hall with a ceiling so high they couldn't accurately perceive it's height. There was a button panel next to the entrance. Of course, everything was pink.

Because of their happy moment from before, they were in a good mood when they wandered in, arms draped over others and hanging off of each other in little groups.

"This is an elevator?" Himchan said, his chin on Yongguk's shoulder.

Once Jongup walked through, the doors closed automatically with a ding. Daehyun pressed the second floor button, and a beep echoed throughout the hall.

"Please watch your balance." A mechanical voice came through some speakers on the walls. "The elevator is about to move."

Zelo almost fell over as the entire floor of the hall began to lift, and everything in the room seemed to sway. Yongguk and Himchan crashed into him from the side, and he could hear Daehyun and Youngjae shouting. After a few teetering moments, the elevator thudded to a heavy stop. Zelo tried to untangle himself from Yongguk and Himchan.

"You have arrived at the second floor."

* * *

 

It was the same as the first floor, with empty halls and spaces, except for a small living room which had a corridor in the back, where their bedroom doors lined the walls. In the middle of the largest empty area, they stumbled across some wacky double-doors. A sign above it said, "Final Dead Room."

Matoki explained that it was a “special challenge room,” where someone could win a weapon after completing some tasks (since there was absolutely nothing to use as a murder weapon in the Strawberry House). The “challenge,” however, was very difficult and had life-threatening qualities.

They made a pact on the spot- to never set foot into the Final Dead Room.

* * *

 

It only took a few hours for Zelo to realize that the Strawberry House was perfectly designed to make a person go insane.  It started as a light dizziness, blamed on the openness and the pink.

They played Jan Ken Pon to sort out rooms (some were nicer than others) and Zelo got one of the crappiest ones. The stuff in it was skimpy and almost rotting. But crazily, it wasn't pink. Instead, the walls and bed were old shades of garbage plum and grey and brown. Zelo couldn't decide if his room or the pink openness was more sickening. In the end, it was the pink openness.

A single clock existed in Strawberry House- it was in the small living room space, and it now read 6:20, which they all knew was totally wrong. Still, they agreed to follow it so they wouldn't lose their minds (but all their efforts would soon prove useless). After everything was settled, they were faced with the immediate and daunting task of passing the time. And with the intention of outlasting Matoki.

Zelo was laying pointlessly in his bed, enjoying the non-pinkness when there was a knock on his door.

"Junhong," Yongguk's voice came. "Come to Daehyun's room. We're gonna hang out there."

"Why?" Zelo called. Even though he really didn't have anything else to do.

"It's just better to stick together."

"Okay."

* * *

 

Zelo tripped once on his way to Daehyun's room- fell hard on his palms, and tried to ignore the fact that it was because the hall suddenly spun and he wanted to throw up.

* * *

Daehyun had a nice room. It had cerulean blue walls, a normal bed with white sheets and a polished wooden floor. They hung out for a while, sometimes talking and playing games and sometimes just lounging around.

When Daehyun's stomach growled loudly, they decidedly ignored it. Although it reminded Zelo that he hadn't eaten all day.

After a while, Himchan and Youngjae said they would go to bed. It was way too early and they probably weren't really tired, but they left for their rooms anyway. Zelo suspected that they just wanted to sleep off their growling stomachs. The rest of them stayed up talking. When Daehyun finally crashed in Zelo's lap, they decided it was time to part ways. They ended their first day at Strawberry House.

  
And so commenced the chunk of Zelo's life that was a giant blur (he would learn later that it was only about 3 days) of physical and mental pain and pink and openness. 


	3. Chapter 3

There was nothing to do, and Youngjae had really lost his grasp on time. Did he fall asleep again? Had a day passed yet? Had two days passed? When was the last time he’d eaten something?

That last thought made his head reel painfully, so he tried to push it away.

_I’m gonna go crazy if I stay here like this…_

He lay there in his bed.

It was silent in Strawberry House. Absolutely, deafeningly silent. It was like living in a picture.

Youngjae felt a tiny itch on his right thumb, and pulled his hand out of the sheets. He brought it up to his face and saw a small ant crawling along the base of the nail. He watched it crawl around his joint and down the inner-side of his hand, feeling the tingle of the ant’s trail. It travelled further past his wrist, and now it made Youngjae uneasy so he smooshed it with his left index finger.

_You could eat that._

Ew! No! He was not going to eat a freaking smooshed ant. But why not? There was no problem with it…

_Ya! Are you crazy?! Get your head together._

That’s what Daehyun would say.

He wiped it on the underside of his bed frame.

Something brushed past his hand.

_What?_

He reached back under and grasped at something soft and fluffy. He pulled out a big, dead bird with black feathers.

He reached again and felt more feathers, and suddenly he was falling. White sheets and baby blue flashed past. Somebody caught him.

_“Woah! What happened to you?”_

He was against someone’s body. It felt familiar. He looked up and saw Daehyun smiling- the sun hitting his good-looking face perfectly, as always.

Daehyun carried him along the beach, close to the glistening, lapping water. He stared into the white of Daehyun’s dress shirt and felt each steady shift in his steps. The waves were steady and softly crashing. Daehyun’s steps were steady. It was twilight now.

_“Hyung.”_

Junhong-ie! He turned and saw their maknae on his knees, fiddling with the glass bottle on the shack floor. His legs looked even longer when he was on all fours like that.

_“Hyung the bottle won’t spin anymore.”_

_“It’s broken,”_ Jongup explained, crouching down. _“I think it broke. We spun it too much.”_

 _“We should get another one,”_ Youngjae said.

 _“Oh yeah!”_ Jongup smiled. Boy that kid was cute when he smiled.

_“Youngjae-ah! Great thinking!”_

Himchan patted him on the back. His make-up was light that day, and his cat-like eyes looked familiar and friendly without the black eyeliner.

_“Are you pretty?”_

Himchan stared at his face, smirking. People underestimated Himchan. There was a spark deep down in his eyes.

Himchan dug around the mess of clothes and make-up products on his rug and took out a pocket mirror. He opened it in front of Youngjae, and out of nowhere Youngjae was looking at his own face- into his own eyes.

_“The important thing is loving yourself.”_

_“I love you hyung!”_

Junhong cackled and threw himself onto him. It was a blur of bodies and dirt floor and laughing. Youngjae remembered this. It was right after the third Mafia Game, when he was the only one who suspected Ji Eun and talked against everyone else, all 9 of them, for two hours until he convinced them and saved everyone’s lives.

Wait, something wasn’t right.

_Youngjae-ah. Youngjae-ah._

Matoki was screaming at him. A black, shadowy storm of fury attacking him. It was everywhere- this shrill, terrifying hurricane around him. He was terrified out of his mind. He wanted it to stop already. His face was wet.

_Youngaje-ah? Are you there? It’s me._

Oh. Yongguk-hyung.

Yongguk appeared in front of him. They were on the beach again.

“What’s happening to me?” Youngjae said.

“You’re dreaming,” Yongguk smiled.

“Oh, right.”

“I’m dreaming too,” He said. “Youngae, if you can see me and hear me right now it means we’re having combined dreams.”

“What?” Were his dreams always like this? “How do you know?”

Yongguk laughed.

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I’m dreaming right now and I’m talking to you through my dream.”

“But… how would you know how to do that?”

“I just tried doing it and it worked,” He shrugged. “Is there really anything that can surprise us now? I… don’t even know what kind of reality I’m living in now. A few months… weeks, years, I can’t even remember how long ago… You and me were just living normal lives right? We met each other in a classroom remember?”

Youngjae nodded.

“That’s true.”

They were quiet for a second.

“Anyway!”

Youngjae looked up and Yongguk was grinning again. Of course this guy was planning something funny right now.

“Youngjae-ah!”

“Yongguk-hyung!”

“Youngjae-ah!” Yongguk’s eyes were really sparkling. “Matoki can’t spy on us here!”

It took a moment for this statement to sink in.

Deep down, Youngjae had assumed that he would die here on this island, without ever connecting again or getting a chance to say goodbye to his past, regular, real life. Matoki’s power was impossibly overwhelming. In his dreams! Matoki couldn’t control his dreams! Matoki had no idea what went on in his dreams! He was free here! FREE! And now Yongguk could visit too.

It was the biggest miracle in Youngjae’s life.

“Oh my god!” He said, laughing. “Hyung!”

They talked. Really sat down and talked. They spilled and spilled and talked about everything and they both cried buckets of sad and angry and happy tears. With the presence of Matoki’s power filling their everyday life unconsciously, it was their first hint of freedom in a very long time. In this moment, they were free and they had no reassurance if this would ever come again in their lifetime.

Youngjae realized that out of all 6 of them, Yongguk loved the others in the most observant way- meaning his style of loving involved a lot of observation and deduction. Yongguk talked about Junhong’s introvertedness and hidden wackiness (a cartoon-like, boyish wackiness), Daehyun’s empathy and hidden beast (that was control-hungry to the point that it was sexual and sadistic), Himchan’s fearlessness and hidden intelligence (with which he used to express himself in the most comfortable ways to other people), and Jongup’s weirdness and hidden normalness (a hard-working, optimistic boy who smiled a lot).

The image flickered like a videotape reel.

“Ugh, I think I’m waking up soon,” Youngjae said, kicking at some sand.

“You know what we should do?” Yongguk said. “Let’s make a code word, so when we wake up, we can let each other know that we remember this moment.”

“Okay.”

“Hmm…”

“Daehyun’s beast?” Youngjae suggested with a chuckle.

“No,” Yongguk laughed. “I like ‘warrior.’ Let’s do ‘warrior’ as the code word.”

“Why ‘warrior’?”

Honestly though, it was just like Yongguk to pick some majestic, mysterious word like ‘warrior’ as a silly code word.

“Because what we’re doing right now, talking like this without anyone knowing… It’s kind of like we’re fighting.”

“Against Matoki you mean?”

“Yeah, I guess. But… also something bigger.”

It did kind of feel like that.

“Alright hyung.”

* * *

 

_…_

_So_

_hungry…_

 

_That’s it, I’m dying here. Nope. I’m done. I’m gonna die here. This is it._

Zelo flipped his head to the other side of the pillow and let his tongue loll out. He felt like a starving dog. He was physically too weak to get out of bed. He’d never felt like this before- like a ragdoll basically. He couldn’t get out of bed even if he wanted to.

_I have to do something._

He thought about killing someone, but the thought left as quickly as it came. Zelo was not killing anyone. No one was killing anyone.

 

_hungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungry_

 

_..._

_hungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungryhungry_

_“Hi, my name is ch &...ng$d@j^. But you can call me zZ#elo if you want.”_

_“Hi, my name is $*) &$#%(*^^)@!^).”_

_“Um, what were you doing over there?”_

_“...”_

_“Hello?”_

_“Oh. Did you say something?”....._

  
  


_What was that again? Some room…_

_Right. The Final Dead Room. I don’t have any other choice, I have to go there. I have to do something…_

Zelo’s body was filled with a rush of willpower, and he somehow got to his feet and pushed the door open. He entered the pink world and stumbled around.

It was quiet and empty.

He found his way to the large double-doors of the Final Dead Room.

_Ok. I’m going to go in. I have to do this. They’ll forgive me for it, it’s for the better. Just go in, there’s nothing to lose. Do it Zelo! Go forward, go in! Do it Zelo! Nothing to lose._

_Fuck it._

Zelo opened-

“Junhong-ie.”

A familiar, soft voice interrupted him.

“Hyung! What’re you-”

“No.”

He rested his hand over Zelo’s on the doorknob. Zelo watched Jongup’s hand carefully unwork his tight grip.

“You can’t go in there Junhong-ie,” Jongup told him. He guided Zelo’s hand back to rest at his side. “You won’t find anything like what you’re looking for.”

“Hyung, there’s nothing else we can do, there’s probably some secret exit in there or something!”

Jongup gazed into Zelo’s eyes for a while.

“...There’s nothing like that. What’s inside, is a life-threatening game. And if you beat it, you only get one of the weapons that Matoki prepared for you… Do you really want a weapon? What would you even do with it?”

What… would he do with a weapon? Well… nothing.

Jongup smiled a small side-smile. It crinkled his left eye a little at the edges and pulled his lips up at the side. It was a face he made a lot.

“Do you really need something like that?”

And something in Zelo released. He was relieved. Everything was ok.

Jongup-hyung made it ok.

"Your face looked so hopeless that I had to follow you," He said. "It's a good thing I did."

Jongup-hyung... Zelo was just winded now. Just... exhausted.

"Let's go Junhong-ie. Is that ok?"

"Y-yeah."

They made their way through the pink together. Zelo doesn't really remember clearly. He just remembers Jongup-hyung, and kind of leaning, and grabbing, and floating, and stumbling.

In his room, Zelo passed out.

_What's going to happen now?_

...

 

Matoki's nagging voice stirred him.

"Hello!? Wake up! Wake up! Come on! Are you dead or something?! Zelo-yah! Geez, all of you are sleeping like logs!"

"Matoki?" He slurred. Why was Matoki here?

“Wake up and be at the elevator in 5 minutes! You hear me Zelo? Elevator in 5 minutes! It’s very important!”

Matoki disappeared.

 

 


End file.
